ACRES GROUP TAKING GRIPES TO LEGISLATORS

Plantation Acres residents are taking their problems today to the Broward Legislative Delegation.

The Plantation Acres Homeowners Association will be seeking solutions to trash dumping in canals and vacant lots, and reducing homeowners' costs of a planned project to pave dirt-and-gravel roads in the community. The homeowners also are hoping to get additional neighborhood police patrols, improved fire protection and more street lights.

"I'm going to say, 'Here we are, ladies and gentlemen, as a perfect example of what has happened when you are forced into annexation,' " said Jim Davis, president of the homeowners assocation.

The Legislative Delegation is to hold a public meeting from 3 to 7 p.m. in Plantation City Hall, 400 NW 73rd Ave. The meeting is to get public opinion on proposed legislative bills.

About 60 Acres residents met Tuesday to discuss taking action to solve problems in the rural community that was annexed into the city 11 years ago.

Homeowners also agreed that if problems are not resolved "within a reasonable time" they will consider deannexing from Plantation.

"It seems that nothing is working," said resident Mary Bankston. "Either we're accepted as part of the city or we're not in the city."

When the Acres was annexed, voters overwhelmingly approved the referendum to bring the Acres into the city.

But residents said they had been told beforehand by various city and state legislators that the Acres could not remain unincorporated and must be annexed into Sunrise or Plantation. Former Sunrise Mayor John Lomelo wanted to zone the land industrial, while Plantation vowed to keep the rural atmosphere, residents said.

"At that time, our backs were against the wall," said resident Joline Ellison. "Lomelo was threatening to make this all industrial."

The Acres is bordered by Flamingo Road to the west, Hiatus Road to the east, Northwest 28th Court to the north and State Road 84 to the south.

City officials have been promising to pave roads in the Acres for four years. The project again has been delayed until at least January and residents still have not been told exactly how much their monthly assessments will be.

Residents have been told that it will cost $30 per front foot along the property line to pave roads. The total cost of paving 25 miles is to be $5 million, while the city is contributing $700,000.

The project will be financed through a 10-year municipal bond, and the administrative and interest costs of floating those bonds will be approximately $2 million.

Homeowners in the northern and southern sections also are to pay for water lines to be installed. That project is to coincide with the road paving.

A resident whose home is on a typical one-third-acre lot in those areas, would pay approximately $1,910 for water service.

The City Council has scheduled a workshop to be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday in City Hall. Griffith Pitcher, the city's attorney who handles bond issues, and Arnold Ramos, of Keith and Schnars, are to update city officials and residents on the road paving project's status.

Meanwhile, Davis has sent a letter to Broward Sheriff Nick Navarro asking for deputies to patrol the Acres. Navarro has said there is no emergency in Plantation and has not sent deputies into the area.

Plantation Police Chief Morris Meek said crime recently has declined in the Acres. In 1984 there were 34 buglaries and 29 homes were burglarized in 1985, which represents 5 percent of the city's total reported home burglaries, according to police records.